Teen Charged in Connection with Sexting Incident

The Calgary Police Service has charged a local teen in connection with a recent sexting incident.

In late May 2013, a CPS School Resource Officer was contacted by the principal of a northeast school and advised one of their female student was being harassed via text messages.

The texts, all of a sexual nature, included threatening comments, and came from an unknown cellphone number. The victim also received more than 25 calls from the same number. She did not respond to any of the messages or calls, and the next day advised an adult at the school.

During the investigation it was learned the victim received dozens of similar messages from the same number in February 2013, but did not tell anyone.

Investigators, with assistance from the CPS Cyber Support Team and the Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) team, identified it to a local iPod user account.

The account belonged to the parent of a 15-year-old boy who attended the same school as the victim. The pair had previously been in a relationship.

The boy was arrested on Friday, June 7, 2013, and charged with criminal harassment and making child pornography. He cannot be identified under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

This case is one of more than a dozen sexting-related incidents that have been reported to the CPS this year. There are likely many more that go unreported to police and are dealt with in other ways.

The CPS works closely with the city’s local school boards to educate youth on the perils of sexting. The impacts of this activity can have devastating effects and lasting consequences.

Even if images, videos and explicit messages are deleted, there’s no telling where they may they end up. Youth need to be aware that every online interaction leaves an electronic footprint that can be tracked to the sender/receiver.

Anyone involved in a sexting incident is encouraged to call the non-emergency police number 403-266-1234 to report it, or report it anonymously through cybertip.ca.

Solutions can be explored for removing material from servers. A step-by-step guide for teens or their parents on how to get through a self-peer exploitation incident can be found at NeedHelpNow.ca.

Media availability notice to follow.